Regional Nationalism in Spain

Rezensionen / Stimmen

Beswick deals with the main and most controversial topics of the linguistic situation in Galicia. She explores the relation between language and ethnic identity with a clear and courageous voice, and advances some prospects in the future of Galician. This book will interest scholars in the field of minority languages research, language ideologies and identity, and is destined to become an important work in Galician linguistics and social sciences. * X. L. Regueira, Instituto da Lingua Galega, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela. * This book's originality lies in the analytical framework within which it addresses the question of Galician linguistic, ethnic and cultural revival: a combination of diachronic and synchronic linguistic analysis of the similarities and differences between the three languages in question (Castilian Spanish, Galician and Portuguese); a sociolinguistic analysis of their differentiated and overlapping uses in different social domains and of attitudes and loyalties; and an examination of how these complexities relate to the expression of a Galician ethnic identity. As someone who works on language revitalisation issues in comparable circumstances, I personally find this particular combination of linguistic, historical and sociolinguistic analyses innovative and illuminating. -- Jane Freeland, Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Transnational Studies, Modern Languages, University of Southampton.